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A dwindling supply of high school officials is an ongoing concern. Page 12
September 9, 2020
Our 203rd year | Vol. 203, No. 37 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50
Behind the scenes, Mike Potter helps guide Warrenton government through pandemic By Coy Ferrell
Times Staff Writer
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ROBIN EARL
A double burger with an order of cheese curds.
Graze to Griddle brings grass-fed burgers to Warrenton By Robin Earl
Times Staff Writer
Fauquier has already had a taste of Graze to Griddle hamburgers, and Culpeper food truck owner Corey Ritchie is betting that residents want more. Beginning Sept. 15, Ritchie and his crew will be selling burgers from 156 Alexandria Pike – from a trailer in the parking lot of Power Trucks USA, across from Eva Walker Park in Warrenton. Although the trailer will be at that location for lunch Monday through Saturday (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), it may be elsewhere for dinner (4 to 8 p.m.). It’s a mobile enterprise, so it has the flexibility to go where the customers are. “It’s a trailer on wheels. I’ll tow it in every day.” See BURGERS, page 4
Mike Potter was working as much as 70 hours a week for a beer distribution company when he and his wife welcomed a baby to the family. Their child was born prematurely, and though he had a good job – he had started as a driver with the company and worked his way up to a managerial position – his time in the neonatal intensive care unit with his wife and newborn spurred him to explore a more stable career path. “Once we got out of the hospital, I really just started jumping headfirst into it, furthering my education,” the soft-spoken 37-year-old said. He had never really considered going to college, he said, but the Fauquier County native had always had an interest in emergency management – the behind-the-scenes logistics that make or break a government’s response to a crisis. Several years on from that decision, he now leads the town of Warrenton’s response to a global pandemic. In addition to his day job, Potter is continuing his two decades of service as a volunteer firefighter in Remington. He is a junior at Liberty University, where he is pursuing a degree in fire management, and one class away from completing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency Management Basic Academy. (His final class this spring was, ironically, postponed due to the pandemic.) In his capacity as interim emergency services coordinator with the town, Potter has since March been responsible for maintaining the town’s stock of personal protective equipment and cleaning
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/COY FERRELL
Mike Potter is the interim emergency services coordinator for the town of Warrenton.
supplies, creating processes for sanitizing townowned buildings, training staff members on new procedures and standards and generally ensuring the town can continue to deliver services during a once-in-a-lifetime situation. See POTTER, page 7
Supervisors consider using federal relief funds to expand child care access By Coy Ferrell
Times Staff Writer
Along with expanding county employees’ access to child care for their children, members of the board of supervisors will also likely discuss at a work session this week the possibility of using CARES Act funding to subsidize child care for low-in-
come county residents, according to a Sept. 1 email from County Administrator Paul McCulla. Following a public hearing, members of the board of supervisors are expected to vote Thursday, Sept. 10, on a spending plan for a second allocation of $5.3 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which was creat-
ed by the CARES Act. (The county’s three incorporated towns will also receive federal disbursements of the same amount as the first.) Supervisors will likely discuss using funds allocated to the Fauquier County government through the federal CARES Act to subsidize daycare for a handful of county employees’
children. According to a recent survey of county staff, only seven employees, representing 12 children, would utilize a free or subsidized daycare program, a much smaller number than was estimated after county employees were surveyed on the issue in early August. See CHILD CARE, page 4
INSIDE Classified............................................19 Opinion...............................................11 Obituaries...........................................16 Puzzles.................................................8 Sports.................................................12
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